Despite frantic efforts to alleviate the sufferings of students, particularly the indigent ones through prompt payment of school fees and the monthly stipends, some universities have continued to delay remitting the funds to the students, metrobusinessnews.com investigations have revealed.
Besides keeping the funds unduly long period in the accounts of universities for interest, some of the universities have also resorted to deferring payments to the next semester.
The logic is that since students pay the school fees before the federal government loans are released by NELFUND, the university authorities resort to keeping the funds in their accounts, using delay tactics, like insisting on formal applications for refunds by the affected students and these would have to go through various signatories before reimbursements are affected.
For instance, University of Ilorin has told the students to forget about reimbursements for the current semester as the payments would be carried on to the next semester.
This is even as some of the students have been paid the monthly N20,000 stipend, once this year.
” We were paid the monthly stipend of M20,000 in May, for the first time this year. No reason has been offered by the university authorities and we heard the federal government has been remitting. Also, we have been told that only final year students will be reimbursed the school fees, while others will be carried over to the next semester. According to them, we will not pay when we will be resuming next new semester,” a source in university of Ilorin told MBN.
The unwholesome practice, MBN learnt, has continued to increase the hardship of the students even as cost of living, particularly food items within the campuses have gone beyond the reach of an avenge student.
However, the National Assembly (NASS) and Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) have commenced moves to expand the federal government’s student loan scheme from about 1.6 million direct beneficiaries to seven million students across tertiary institutions and vocational centres nationwide.
The planned expansion, stakeholders said on Monday, was aimed at deepening access to education and driving broader socio-economic transformation through increased support for students and trainees.
The initiative was unveiled during a national sensitisation programme on the student loan scheme organised by Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund, in collaboration with NELFUND in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed that the scheme had so far disbursed more than N282 billion and directly benefited about 1.6 million Nigerian students.
According to Sawyerr, the impact of the programme extends beyond individual beneficiaries to millions of family members and communities across the country.
He stated, “Today, 1.6 million Nigerian students have directly benefited from the NELFUND scheme. If we consider that the average Nigerian family consists of about five people, it means we are directly and indirectly impacting nearly 10 million lives.”
Sawyerr added that NELFUND was seeking broader stakeholder support to expand the scheme’s reach to about seven million beneficiaries through inclusion of students in tertiary institutions, vocational centres, technical colleges and skills acquisition programmes.
He explained that the planned expansion would significantly increase the number of Nigerians benefiting from the intervention and strengthen efforts aimed at enhancing workforce development and national productivity.
Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, described the sensitisation campaign as critical to the success of the programme.
Jibrin stressed that many eligible students were yet to take advantage of the opportunity due to limited awareness.
He said, “No matter how beneficial a programme is, if the intended beneficiaries are not adequately informed about it, its impact will be limited.
“People need to understand what the programme entails and how they can access it. That is exactly what this sensitisation campaign is all about and should be taken round the entire six geopolitical zones.”
Chairman of House Committee on Students Loans, Scholarships and Tertiary Education Financing, Hon. Ifeoluwa Ehindero, said the programme had become a major intervention in widening access to higher education for indigent students.
Ehindero stated that the sensitisation exercise would further deepen public understanding of the opportunities provided by the scheme and encourage wider participation.
According to him, the fund has achieved significant milestones since its launch, reaching more than 1.5 million students and disbursing over N282 billion in educational support.
Earlier, Chairman of Senate Committee on TETFund, Senator MuntariDandutse, said the programme formed part of the National Assembly’s oversight responsibility and commitment to promoting equitable access to education.
Dandutse said the collaboration between lawmakers and NELFUND would help ensure that more Nigerians, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, benefitted from the federal government’s educational financing initiatives.
The student loan scheme is one of the flagship education interventions of the federal government designed to remove financial barriers to tertiary education and support human capital development across the country.